Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

New TSA ID Verification System Is Letting People Past Security Who Haven’t Checked In

by Gary Leff

Jun 22 2020

TSA is rolling out the “Credential Authentication Technology” (CAT) tool broadly. They check both the authenticity of the document and whether the information matches what they have for the passenger’s ‘Secure Flight’ data in their reservation (name, date of birth, gender). If it isn’t a match, the passenger is sent over to the airline to get things sorted.

However since passengers no longer need a boarding pass when this system is in use, they’re proceeding past the security checkpoint without first checking in for their flight

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Did The Head Of Lufthansa’s Flight Attendants Union Demand €1mm Bribe To Agree To Job Cuts?

by Gary Leff

Jun 22 2020

Germany’s Die Welt is reporting that the head of Lufthansa’s cabin crew union demanded “one million euros from Lufthansa” to agree to “job losses and reduced pay” for members as part of the airline’s restructuring and bailout.

The union, for its part, denies these claims as it fights to minimize the thousands of jobs that are expected to be lost at Lufthansa.

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McDonalds Coffee Spill Lawsuit Revisited: United Airlines Spilled Scalding Drink On Child

by Gary Leff

ronald mcdonald
Jun 21 2020

You may be familiar with — and even outraged by — the famous lawsuit against McDonald’s by Stella Liebeck who was burned by hot coffee.

The jury’s $2.7 million award has long been a poster child for tort reform (the judge actually reduced her award to $480,000). That lawsuit brought change though – albeit not to United Airlines.

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Cabin Crew Dox Passenger After He Complains About Onboard Service, Get Flight Attendant Fired

by Gary Leff

Jun 21 2020

An Italian customer wrote to Emirates customer service to complain about a flight attendant who was texting using her phone while sitting in the jump seat. He said he’s a Skywards Platinum member, and he was going to complain broadly in social media unless he received compensation. Emirates fired the flight attendant.

Cabin crew, though, doxed the guy and also have been gossiping about him claiming he steals salt and pepper shakers from aircraft and tries to scam ‘to go’ bottles of wine. They want flight attendants to be on the lookout for the guy, looking out for him taking phtoos inflight (since he took a photo of the flight attendant he complained about) because UAE law places restrictions on photography of others.

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Dozens Of Puppies Die On Transatlantic Flight

by Gary Leff

dog with puppies
Jun 20 2020

Dozens of puppies were found dead on a Ukraine International Airlines flight from Kiev to Toronto last weekend. And come on, we all love puppies.

On June 13 the aircraft landed with 500 puppies on board. Many were “suffering from dehydration, weakness and/or vomiting and 38 of them were found dead.” Ukraine International Airlines ‘feels bad’ for allowing this.

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Spirit Airlines Fined For Lying About Bumping Passengers

by Gary Leff

Jun 20 2020

The Department of Transportation fined Spirit Airlines $350,000 for pretending that passengers who were involuntarily denied boarding had volunteered to take later flights, and undercompensating those passengers. The U.S. government found ”a pattern of non-compliance with the compensation scheme” at Spirit.

Spirit referred to involuntary denied boarding “as the “volunteer option”, and customers were forced to sign an “acknowledgement form” stating so.”

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American Airlines Surveying New Ways To Compensate Passengers For Service Failures

by Gary Leff

american airlines lounge
Jun 19 2020

Compensation may not be gone for good. The airline appears to be surveying what sort of compensation they should be offering. The new options aren’t likely to incur liability on the airline’s books – although they may add crowding to the start of the boarding process, and to the airline’s lounges, at precisely the time when the airline’s best customers will value distancing most.

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COVID Will Change My Airport Security Checkpoint Routine

by Gary Leff

lego tsa agents
Jun 19 2020

Sometimes I depart the U.S. flying an airline that doesn’t participate in PreCheck. And when I do, I still ‘opt out’ of these nude-o-scopes on principle. Maybe I’m the last person that does.

I take a pat down instead of going through the machine. The screener will tell me what to expect, saying to me that they’re going to ‘run their hand up my leg until they meet resistance’ and they’ll ask if I have any sensitive areas. “Only where you meet resistance” I’ve offered, a hundred times. Covid changes all of this.

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